From
before the end of the 19th century and the first world war, the British
government to the land of Ireland, religious and political ruling policy made
some beneficial reform, proposed the abolition of church act "land
law" and "university education act, contributed to the third "autonomy",
provides the implementation of autonomy in southern Ireland in the 1920s.

Since
the beginning of the 19th century, the "Irish problem", which
integrates ethnic hatred, religious antagonism, political injustice and social
injustice, has become a thorny issue that successive British governments have
had to face and has not been successfully solved. In this paper, the author
will make a brief review of many institutional adjustments implemented by
Britain in the aspects of religion, education, land and political future to
solve the Irish issue before the World War I.

Before
the World War I the institutional adjustment of the British government to solve
the Irish problem was carried out in the context of the increasing tendency of
separation in the Irish island and the policy choice faced by the British on
the colonial issue during the transition from free competition to monopoly.

After
the Irish ended their national independence in the 12th century, they were
treated unjustly economically, religiously and politically.

Economically,
Britain used Ireland as its breadbasket. In 1835, for example, the total grain
production of Ireland was about 36 million pounds, of which 10 million pounds
became the land rent of landlords, 20 million pounds became the tax revenue of
the British government, and the high tax rate made Irish farmers destitute. He
Famine of 1845 ~ 1848 starved 1.5 million Irish people. In 1847, 17 million
pounds of grain was exported from Ireland under the protection of the British
army.

The
Irish are also subject to discrimination and powerlessness in religion and politics.
Ireland was originally a Catholic country, after the British religious reform,
forced the protestant church as Ireland. During the time of Elizabeth I and
William iii, the British in the Ulster region of Northern Ireland attracted a
large number of Protestant immigrants and established a situation of
cooperative Ascendancy. In 1704, the British parliament passed the Test Act,
which banned political rights for non-believers. In 1720, the Declaratory Act
was promulgated to declare that the British parliament had the legislative and
judicial powers of Ireland and that all Catholic church schools were closed. By
the mid-18th century, Ireland's government was in effect an authoritarian
government controlled by Britain that "served both the interests of protestant
power in Ireland and England". Although Britain retained Ireland's
bicameral parliament, parliamentary elections were effectively controlled by
protestant landowners because the majority of Irish catholics were
disenfranchised.

The
growing tendency of Irish secession is also the result of the spread of Irish
nationalism and the development of capitalism. In 1796, the united Irishmen
sought help from France. Since then, the French revolution and the Napoleonic
wars have awakened the Irish sense of nationalism, and the call for autonomy
and even independence is growing. Both The young Ireland in 1842 and The Fenian
Movement in The 1850s were reflections of the rise of nationalism.

The
further development of Irish nationalism was driven by Irish capitalism which
achieved certain development at the end of the 19th century. Dairy factories
sprang up in munster and Ulster in the last quarter of the 19th century. The
development of capitalism promoted the gradually growing power of the Irish
bourgeoisie, but their development was suppressed by the British. The decline
of Irish wool in the 18th century, for example, was the result of the blow.

The
end of the 19th century, the bourgeoisie in the ideological trend of
nationalism and Ireland, Ireland growing force secessionist Britain's political
parties to rethink the problem of how to deal with the colony, but "colony
in a national symbol and prestige with a kind of hard to say, but it is
extremely important value". Moreover, after the anglo-british war,
exhausted Britain was unable to expand its colonial territory, and could not
easily give up its existing colonies and give Ireland complete autonomy, let
alone independence. Therefore, Britain's adjustment within the scope of the
system became the most appropriate method at that time.

Within
Britain, many Tory MPS are "outside landlords" who own land in
Ireland. They were the last pillar of British conservative power after the
abolition of the corn laws, opposing the granting of colonial autonomy. With
the transition from capitalism to monopoly, the liberal policy has been out of
date, since 1886 the liberal party began to decline gradually. To maintain its
strength, the liberal party "ventured to seek the support of Irish
nationalists with the promise of introducing an Irish home rule bill".
This is an important reason for the liberal party to be extremely positive in
the process of promoting the adjustment of the "Irish problem"
system, and also foreshadows its failure.

First,
the leader of the liberal party, W.E.W. And offered to sell part of the
church's land to tenants who rented it. The passage of the bill eased religious
tensions in Ireland, and as a measure to sell part of the church's land, three
out of four landowners at that time could become owners of the land by paying
only a quarter of the purchase price. It provides a reference to the land
reform act of 1870 and 1881.

In
1873, Gladstone proposed the "university education law" to coordinate
with the adjustment of Irish religious issues. The bill seeks to give Irish
catholics greater access to education through the integration of Catholic and
protestant schools, and stipulates that the government will subsidize Catholic
universities financially. But the bill failed because catholics felt that
funding for Catholic universities was too low, but it was a solid step towards
greater Irish access to education.

Land
is at the heart of Ireland's problems. In 1872, the British parliament passed
the "secret ballot law" proposed by the liberals, which gradually
increased the number of Irish members in the imperial parliament, laying the
foundation for solving the land problem. In 1870, the British government
enacted the first land act, which had little effect in the implementation
process due to its lack of operability, but the "Ulster convention"
in the bill was determined in the form of law. The protection of agricultural
investment and tenancy rights of tenants on their land. The state also provides
certain loans to tenants who obtain the permission of the landlord and wish to
purchase the leased land. In 1879, Michael Davitt led and founded the land
alliance, which explicitly raised the requirement of small land ownership. In
1881, the British parliament passed a new land law, agreed to the
"three-f" program proposed by the land association, substantially
reduced and fixed the rent, and established a land tribunal to coordinate the
relationship between landlords and tenants.

The
two land bills of 1870 and 1881 failed to solve the land problem in Ireland
because the farmers lacked money. The farmers first had to pay a third to a
quarter of the purchase price. Since then, the key to land reform is how to
help tenants get enough money to buy land.

In
1887, the conservative government enacted the ashburn land act, which provided
loans to tenants to buy land. Under this act, the tenant farmer can receive the
full payment for the land from the state at a rate of 4 per cent on the basis
of a voluntary agreement with the landlord to purchase the land, and
automatically becomes the owner of the land after 49 years. Although countries
prepare total paid only 5 million pounds, but this small test was constituted
in 1903, George Wen Dem introduced the basis of land purchase method.

Ireland
in 1903 the governor George Wen Dem launched the land law provision: the
government every year 5 million pounds of government bonds, gradually to raise
a sum of 100 million pounds of money, the buyer shall pay the payment to the
seller for 3.25% of the principal by the state, i.e., according to the two
pounds fifteen shillings servicing, ten-shilling debt. The repayment period is
68.5 years. To encourage a sale, the state gives the seller a lump sum of 21
per cent of the land value. The law was so successful that 199,000 tenants in
southern Ireland and 57,400 in the north became buyers. In this way, after
supplementation, the land issue can be basically solved.

While
dealing with Irish religious issues and land issues, the British government
also carried out a second level of institutional adjustment to the political
future of the "Irish issue". They proposed the Irish self-government
bill three times, but the three bills failed due to the constraints of many
factors.

In
April 1886, the liberals, who had formed their third cabinet, introduced the
first self-government bill in the lower house of parliament. The act gave the
Irish only legislative power, a unicameral parliament with "two
levels" and an executive with limited powers. The parliament dealt with
Ireland under the strict jurisdiction of the imperial parliament, and laws on
military, trade and taxation were strictly prohibited. Even so, the law was
blocked by the conservatives and failed to pass.

In
February 1892 the liberal party introduced a second self-government bill. This
time it is a straight bicameral system, with 48 members of the upper house
elected for a term of eight years by voters who own or possess land worth 20
pounds a year in taxes. The house of Commons consists of 103 members, elected
separately from trinity college, on the basis of the existing electoral
districts. Irish lawmakers remain in the imperial parliament. With Gladstone's
full push, the house of Commons finally passed by 301 votes to 267 in the third
reading. The upper house voted 419 to 410. But the majority of the lower house
has voted for it, and the upper house will one day be unable to ignore the
general public.

In
April 1912, asquith proposed a third act of self-government, incorporating the
conservative idea of "confederation". The bill proposes retaining 42
Irish MPS in the British parliament and ensuring the highest powers of the
imperial parliament are not compromised. The Irish legislature has two
Chambers: the senate has 40 members, elected by four Irish provinces, and the
house of representatives has 164 members, 39 of whom are elected
proportionally. The imperial parliament retained only certain designated
powers, and the executive branch was responsible to the Irish parliament.

The
bill passed the house of Commons by 367 votes to 257 in January 1913, but was
rejected by the house of lords by 326 votes to 69 in the second reading. But
under the 1911 act of parliament, the act would remain law a year later.

As
the movement was about to make significant headway, the protestant majority in
Ulster, Northern Ireland, organized the Ulster volunteer army. Southern Irish
catholics, on the other hand, organized "Irish volunteers" to fight
for autonomy. Just as a civil war was inevitable, World War I broke out. At a
time when national unity was needed, the British government put the act on hold
and promised to implement it after the war.

1919
Irish mp, elected in the previous year's general election, refused to serve in
the British house of Commons. They formed the Irish house of representatives
and issued a declaration of independence on their own in the name of an
independent "republic of Ireland". Britain's institutional adjustment
of the Irish problem was a total failure.

First
of all, there are many conflicts between protestant and Catholic within
Ireland, and institutional adjustment is difficult to balance the interests of
both. The long British colonial rule of Ireland, protestants and catholics lack
identity, which is the root cause of Ireland's problems. To protestants, giving
catholics equal rights means reducing their own. And because protestants make
up only a third of the Irish population, most want Ireland to remain in the
British empire once they fear that their rights will not be secured once
Ireland becomes self-governing.

Secondly,
the British government system adjustment could not break through the national
interest, the bottom line and Ireland's geographical location and abundant
strategic resources has special meaning for the British, from the national
interests, the British could not give the Irish truly independent and complete
autonomy, so the Irish problem also can not be through simple system adapting
to be fundamentally solved.

Third,
as capitalism transitions from free competition to monopoly, the declining
liberal party becomes increasingly powerless to push through Irish reform. In
the late 19th century, the monopolistic bourgeoisie attempted to shift the
crisis to the colonies, and the liberal party's policy of Irish self-government
was clearly out of place. Moreover, Britain feared that if it allowed Irish
self-rule to spread to other colonies, it would cause the collapse of the
British empire.